Trembling Raindrops
by Ayakashi
Summary: Minoru is afraid of the thunder. Yuzuki comforts him. MinoruYuzuki oneshot. Please Read and Review!


**_Trembling Raindrops_**

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Summary: Minoru is alone and afraid during a storm. Yuzuki comforts him. Summary sucks, but that's basically what the story is about. Yuzuki/Minoru, oneshot.

This fic probably takes place before or during volume 5, but not after Yuzuki tries to hack into the National Database-thing and has that sweet confession scene. Yuzuki is still sucking up to being like Kaede here.

Key: Thoughts are in _italics_. Spoken word is in "quotation marks," duh.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yuzuki or Minoru, however, I do happen to own the storm. Yes, I own the rain, the thunder, the lightning, the clouds, and the heaven itself. All of nature is under my command. Yes, I am god.

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The rain pounded down upon the walls and roof, incessantly splattering onto the wooden shingles and rattling the window panes, sending echoes through the deserted house.

Minoru shivered. He watched through the rain-blurred windows as sudden splashes of lightning that curled out from behind the dark clouds to streak across the sky. The light that momentarily filled his bedroom was a bright shade of white-gold. His dark eyes were wary. When the corresponding crack of thunder ripped through the air, he cringed and dug his fingers in the soft cotton of his pillow. He pressed his palm to his temple, but was only mildly surprised to find the damp sweat that had pearled there.

Minoru was afraid of the thunder. Well, maybe not _afraid_, but it always made him so uneasy and disturbed. Did this strange unexplainable tendency of fearing thunder have to do with the fact that his parents, all those years ago, had their last fight on the eve of a horrible lightning-ridden storm? Or perhaps because Kaede had always kept him safe as a small child-- always holding him close during the storms-- and now that he was alone and his beloved sister dead, it was an unknown trauma to him, yet another trial for him to overcome?

_I'm_ still _a child_, he realized, much to his dismay. Just because he was a young established member of society, a genius, a prodigy hacker, at only twelve years — he _was_ really, undeniably, a child; And nothing but time could change that, despite the colossal amounts of study, intellect, and mature disposition ever applied to covering it up.

But _was_ he really, undeniably, alone?

He had no family. He didn't really have any close friends. Robots and computers were company, but they didn't fill the lonely whole in his gut.

And it wasn't that no one cared about his feeling and well-being, or that he was isolated and ostracized from other people— it was the fact that he had to no one to hold close when it rained. And when he wanted to break down and sob, there was no warm shoulder to cry on.

Well, a robot's metal shoulder clad in flesh and clothes was better than nothing, right? It was at least better than the formless and bland lump of cotton and foam, (more often referred to as a pillow), that he was presently clutching firmly to his chest.

"Yuzuki?" Minoru called. His voice echoed suspensefuly in the quiet moment of rest between the crackling roars of the thunderstorm.

_She can't possibly hear me,_ he realized. Her room, his sister's old room, (where Yuzuki now accommodated), was all the way across the mansion.

But he almost laughed out loud at the irony as the bedroom door clicked open and Yuzuki tentatively slid a foot inside.

"Minoru-san. You called?"

"...You heard?" He frowned.

Yuzuki looked down at her folded hands. It was less than a ninety-eight-point-three percent chance that her master would believe her if she lied, and only if covered up with an extravagant excuse, one so elaborate that her database would not be able to process in any less than five seconds, which would have been five seconds too long for her master to accept and believe. So she didn't lie. And she never wanted to have to lie to Minoru anyway.

"Yes, I heard your call for me. I was able to hear your voice because... Minoru-san… doesn't like the thunder. I feel that the best course of action, as similar to that of Kaede-san as possible, was to wait outside your door until the storm desists."

Minoru resisted the urge to roll his eyes and 'tsk' her choice of action. "Yes, perhaps. But you could have come _in_ the room rather than stand outside the door all night long. But you're right that that's exactly what Kaede would have done."

Yuzuki smiled that gentle smile of hers, completely masking the juxtaposing desires twirling inside of her silicon metal heart. She had been praised by Minoru-san; and she liked that, a lot. So much. But fact that she had been praised for acting like someone else remained. That special someone was the person he had loved, and that she could never be, and yet strived so hard to imitate.

_Kaede is always better than me, because Kaede was Minoru's sister. I must strive to be the most like her. That would please Minoru-san the most. My programming tells me that this is so._

"Yuzuki? When is... it over…?" Said Minoru, but his voice was drowned in a heavenly bang. He flinched all over his body at the sudden thunder-clap as if he was having a strange sound-induced spasm.

Yuzuki raised the volume of voice and said in her most polite tone, "Huh? I'm sorry. Would you mind repeating that please?"

"What is the weather supposed to be for the next few hours? Would you tell me?" Minoru said, fighting back the desire to yawn.

"Yes, Minoru-san." She blinked and her eyes glazed over. Her voice was monotone and sounded blank when she answered. "It is 23 : 46 : 05 as of this moment. The thunderstorm will have moved to the Tohoku region and hence desist here at approximately 6 hours and thirty-minutes, at 5 : 24 of tomorrow. There will be mild showers until—"

"That's enough." Minoru nodded. "Thanks." This bit of information found Minoru much annoyed… _Damn, another 6 hours of lightning, and cold rain. Must be some huge storm…._

"You're most welcome. Is there anything else Minoru-san—?"

"Yes. Come over here and keep me company during the storm."

"Huh?" Yuzuki's large sapphire eyes widened. She literally replayed his words over again inside her head to make sure that she had heard correctly. Had her external sound system malfunctioned? — Such happenings weren't _completely_ impossible for custom-made OS systems like her, though unlikely—

"Are you sure that is what you want, Minoru-san? Anything else or—"

"Yes, very."

Yuzuki found herself beside his bedside, looking down at her master curled in the bed sheets there. She tentatively sat on the edge of the bed.

"Don't expect to sit like that all night long. I might as well be alone on this overly _large_ king-sized bed... Feel free to lie on that side."

She felt the mattress sink slightly under her weight. She bent over to unknot the laces and slide her shiny black boots off, and then pulled one leg up onto the bed with great hesitation.

Yet another thunderclap seemed to shake the room— dim yellow light splattered through the curtain and illuminated the walls and bed for a half-moment.

Minoru's appeared exhausted and weary, but was clearly unable to fall asleep. He was clutching at the thin cotton bedspread, sweating, and flushed a bright shade of pink, but in Yuzuki's gaze he looked golden and blessed— the most beautiful child.

Yuzuki felt feelings of appreciation and desire rush inside of her, which she dismissed as being part of her programming immediately. She hadn't developed such an opinion on her own, of course.

But she wanted to cherish the moment of watching over her precious Minoru forever. And so she recorded it, so that it would.

A fearful moan escaped from his mouth, and any normal human wouldn't have heard it through the many sounds of the relentless storm. But the sound system that Yuzuki was equipped with was of perhaps the highest and most expensive quality, and the magnified sounds of her master's distress rung through her head, as prominent and drastic as if she had been slammed in the head with a giant mallet.

Minoru-san's well-being and happiness was always the most important thing. Even her most basic programming told her so. Kaede would have loved Minoru, and wanted him to be healthy and merry forever. Even if Yuzuki wasn't capable of anything like love, she carried Kaede's will through her.

_If Kaede had feelings of love for him, and I mirror her feelings— does that mean— could I possibly— love him, too?_ She concluded. _But Minoru's said it himself— that I_ can't _love. I don't_ have _feelings— it's just the reactions that I am programmed to respond with._

A gentle touch on the back of her hand brought her mind back from its momentary-data-processing-thought state and her imminent concern for Minoru-san once again became the most important thing.

She curled her fingers around his small hand, feeling the heat of his body seep into her soft almost-real flesh.

"Don't worry, Minoru-san. I'm here— I'm with you. The storm will be over soon. I will stay here. I will be here when the storm is over." She waited for the thunder's firework-like crackling to finish before continuing, though not after noting that Minoru had barely flinched at the thunder this time. "I'll be with you forever, if that's what you want."

"_Forever."_ Minoru replied distastefully. "Do you know that Kaede once told me the same thing? But she couldn't: It was a lie." He sighed. "And you're so selfless, Yuzuki. You always say 'if that's what you want,' but you never think of yourself."

Yuzuki was well accustomed to her master's many picky fault-finding observations. "But, Minoru-san. You created me to always care or you, and to serve you. That is all that matters to me. I do not have needs; I'm not a person. I cannot _be_ selfish."

"Yuzuki, you're supposed to act like Kaede did. Was that was my sister did? Live to _serve_ me? Do you think that was her purpose in this world truly was?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize when you did nothing wrong." The boy sighed. "I'm the one who's sorry, Yuzuki. I have no right to consider your faults when I'm the one who caused them in the first place. I guess I should've programmed you to be a bit more selfish," He laughed. _But what can a persocom possibly want?_ What could a thing without feelings possibly be selfish for? They didn't _feel_ greed or desire.

_I'm a failure,_ Yuzuki thought. _Why did I say such a stupid thing? I'm not his serving maid, and shouldn't act like one. I was made to replace his lost beloved sister. And though after much extensive independent research, and common sense, I have come to believe that no one can replace anyone— I must try to._ Always _try. Because that's what he programmed me to want. That's what Minoru wants._

There was an awkward moment in which the only sound that could be heard was the rain incessantly lashing down on the glass windows.

"Yuzuki. Even if we can't guarantee that it's possible, I do wish that you'd be beside me forever. Something may happen, an accident or a misfortune, and my wish may prove to be unfulfilled— but we should enjoy the time that we have together while we can."

"Minoru-san. . ." She smiled and laid her hand upon their interlocked fingers.

Her touch wasn't very warm. It wasn't sweaty or fragile, as his was— but her palms pressed against his felt neither felt cold nor uncomfortable. Her embrace was always so nurturing, tender, soft, and yet somehow forceful.

When the next thunder-clap sounded, it's wailing seemed to roll off in the distance, as if the storm was moving away so that it merely sounded like the growling of a large dog, but then it escalated ended with a huge "bang!" Minoru couldn't help but cringe at the sudden sound.

"Don't worry, please." Yuzuki said. "Nothing can possibly happen to you, Minoru-san. You know very well that the likelihood of lightning hurting you here is much less than one percent and that scientifically the--"

"It's not _that_. . . I _know_ that. . . I don't like the thunder because, well, I guess it's because people fear things that are more powerful than them, that they can't tame, or ever fully understand. No matter how much science progresses, science will never control nature. There's no rational reason for my fear, I know. But we people are enigmas, even to ourselves."

"I'm afraid that you are being too vague, Minoru-san. Why would humans fear what is powerful, and why would they want to control nature? I do not understand."

"You wouldn't, Yuzuki. Humans are utterly and always irrational. We do stupid things, even when we know that there could be dire consequences."

When the persocom didn't respond, Minoru continued. "We sin, we hate, we hurt, we regret, we achieve, we love."

"Love? Do humans consider that a stupid thing?"

"No. But people do stupid things because of it. Love can create the most complex situations that this world knows. Love is an excuse yet it is also a reason, it's so painful and yet beautiful-- it's always completely and utterly incomprehensible. It's another one of the forces that science will never be able to manipulate."

He looked at her.

Yuzuki frowned, processing this confusing bit of information and filing it as 'miscellaneous facts about human behavior.'

_People are ridiculous,_ Minoru thought. _Persocoms are more perfect that we are or ever will be… But _having_ faults is what helps this world go around. So that we can learn from out mistakes and progress._

They lapsed back into silence. Nothing but the sound of the loud, pounding rain. Oh, and the mattress creaking.

He felt the bed's surface sway as Yuzuki pulled her legs up and bent her knees in and slowly, anxiously, lowered herself onto one elbow, finally shifting from her previous sitting position to a more suitable one for a bed. She lay on the side of the bed, facing the boy and staring past him into the dark rain. It felt so good to be so close and beside him like that. This way, she could protect him from _all_ danger or harm.

He looked at her and felt grateful. She had been his creation, but now she had so much more meaning than that.

Despite the never-ending splattering of raindrops that smothered the moonlight and sent shadows to cover the ground and Earth-- despite the darkness, he could still see the luscious curls of shimmering blue hair that fell forward and pooled around her resting form as she teased her braids loose. Her glittering sapphire eyes were half-lidded and relaxed, and a small serene smile graced her lips.

When the next bang of thunder crashed, she clenched his hand and pressed closer to him.

It made him uneasy. It made her uneasy. At the closeness of their bodies, and at the proximity of their touches and glances. Minoru blushed flamboyantly, and Yuzuki realized that some virgin and dormant mechanism inside of her had clicked, and that her own body was responding in a similar manner to his.

The king-sized bed seemed much smaller than it really was.

Minoru didn't want to move away: He didn't want to seem either immature or even the slightest bit agitated and fretful, and Yuzuki didn't want Minoru to think that she was intimidating or precarious. They were both devoted and hesitant and had something to prove.

It suddenly dawned on the boy that there was no haughty breathing on his neck, even though the persocom's lips and face were hovering there, and though the breasts that were pressing against his back were presently hard and firm, a pair of lungs were foreign to the inner layers of the well-endowed chest.

He knew more than anyone else that she was nothing but scraps of metal, silicon, and plastic, that had been smartly welded together.

But, decidedly, he didn't care.

What more were humans, anyway? Masses of carbon, iron and hydrogen, which amounted to be nothing more than the organism that would one day surely be the cause of the destruction of the world?

The thunder shook the room, and in an attempt to keep her beloved Minoru-san from shivering in fear, Yuzuki slid an arm around him and pressed her knee against his thigh.

The thunder crackled, lasting for a hundred frozen moments, and radiant white light pierced through the glass.

"_Minoru_!"

The boy was shaking. He coughed and looked at her. He looked at her. His panicked dark eyes met her worried blue ones. _He looked at her. _

Someone was _there_. A warm shoulder just for him to cry on. It didn't matter whether she was a persocom or not. Why had he been so concerned about something so irrelevant?

"Yuzuki."

And because neither could say anything else, she felt that it was _right_, and he was shaking and vulnerable and she wanted him to be still and whole and fearless--

Yuzuki clutched the boy's chin and pushed his head back into her lips. Minoru gasped, and froze, finding that his heart was pounding inside his chest frantically and that his face was flushed and smoldering— fermented lust uncurled in its most raw form from deep within him. He was hesitant, but so unafraid. He felt the exhilarating feeling that grown-ups obsessed over, the burning sensations inside of him, and wrapped his small arms around Yuzuki as their tongues touched and lips slid apart.

Yuzuki brushed back his black bangs and kissed his forehead gently, her warm lips barely brushed against him. She pulled away, her eyes widened with the shock of her own daringness.

She refused to show signs of her own agitation and the strange embarrassed sensation that was unwinding within her as she straightened the tousled bed-sheets and pulled them up to Minoru's chin and tucked him in. Her hands were sliding over the soft sheets in a distant and flustered manner, as if it were a reflex, and that she was not contemplating the task at hand.

So _that's_ what had happened. Her body had reacted as programmed to do in a sexual situation. Warm up and moisten. She didn't feel the sensation of lust and desire the way that the boy did, rather, it was her mind and data that exploded with what just _had_ to register as "the most extreme form of joy."

Minoru, _her_ Minoru, wanted to be with _her_. That was all that mattered. There was nothing sensual about it. Kissing was a way of sealing their feelings, and making the promise physical. She did want to hold him, though. Hold him, never ever let go. And the enjoyment he had showed at their kiss made her want to pounce and press him into the bed and kiss him and kiss him forever.

She lay beside him, unmoving and still, watching through her lazy blue eyes. There was no sound of breathing besides his own— nothing but the incessant rain splattering down. Oh, and the wind.

She watched over him, and planned to remain doing so, all night long. Maybe after the storm stopped, she would shut down and recharge-- a persocom's form of 'sleep'-- but only maybe, and only if Minoru didn't need her.

Minoru could almost feel her lifeless eyes on his back. How could something be considered lifeless if it showed so much expression? Of sorrow, of kindness, of happiness, and of desire? He was restless, and actually attempting to fall sleep would be a vain attempt and a waste of good thinking time.

He could feel her weight on the bed beside him. The imprint her form left on the mattress. Without moving to look at her, he touched her hand, and felt her fingers respond by curling around his own.

He wanted her. He wanted her to want him. To depend on him, and be the only one. He wanted her to smile and laugh, and to never break down or malfunction. He wanted to fix her if she were to break, to always be there for her. He wanted to touch her and kiss her. For her to live life to it's fullest. For her to be happy.

_Love_, Minor realized. That he felt such feelings for her. It was always completely and utterly incomprehensible.

Of course, he would never tell.

He had no idea that the persocom beside him was having similar thoughts, running over the sentences and data and over and over again on her hard drive, analyzing it, and affirming it.

Yuzuki wanted Minoru. She wanted him to want her. She wanted to be the only one. She wanted him to smile and laugh, and to never suffer or hurt. She wanted to comfort him if he were to feel lonely, to be always there for him always. She wanted to hold and caress him. For him to enjoy life and _live_. All that she wanted was his happiness.

But no, she didn't love him. She was a persocom. She was scraps of ingeniously constructed metal and interconnected silicon chips; a robot. And of course, something like _that_ could _never_ learn to love.

The rain did seem quieter than it had before. Light showers slid in silvery droplets from the sky and down the window.

Minoru didn't even flinch as the last horrendous crackle of forgotten thunder ripped through the heavens.

He doubted that he ever would again.

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A/N:

The irony is that though Yuzuki wants the same things for Minoru that he wants for her (like happiness, no pain, etc), which is obviously what in Minoru's case is considered 'love.' Except of course, because Yuzuki is a persocom and not a person, even if she feels the same way, just because she is a robot, her feelings don't count or matter. This my failed attempt at showing the irony of how love is LOVE, no matter it comes from a human heart or a persocom's.

Reviews! If you review, you get a free imaginary persocom! Remember, it's absolutely free! With no tax included. (Kyaaah! I want one that looks like Sakurazuka Seishirou! Or maybe I'll just get a Yuzuki clone, because she's the coolest Chobits character ever, and I love her! Yay!) So remember to review if you want an uber cool imaginary persocom!


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